Enrile denies leaving Gigi Reyes liable for his plunder case

MANILA – Senator Juan Ponce Enrile clarified that his temporary release from detention did not make his former chief of staff Jessica “Gigi” Reyes principally liable for his alleged P172-million kickbacks from multi-billion pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

Enrile returned to the Senate yesterday after being granted a P1.45-million bail by the Supreme Court. With this, pork barrel scam whistle-blowers’ former lawyer Levito Baligod feared that Reyes could be held responsible for the senator’s purported misuse of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations.

“Baligod is a discredited lawyer who was dropped by the ‘star whistleblower’ Benhur Luy himself,” Enrile said in a Manila Bulletin report.

“How can the Supreme Court decision on my bail leave Atty. Gigi Reyes ‘holding the bag’ when the same Supreme Court ruled in favor of our motion for Bill of Particulars?” he added.

Baligod also earlier stated that Reyes could be presumed as the ultimate recipient of Enrile’s alleged P172-million commissions if she remained silent amidst the senator’s legal tactics.

Enrile only shunned Baligod’s statements.

“Atty. Reyes and I are accused as co-conspirators under the same complaint… The action of the Supreme Court regarding the Bill of Particulars must benefit Atty. Reyes as well,” he asserted.

Meanwhile, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago also suspected that Reyes would be the ‘fall out guy’ of Enrile. She then urged the former aide to turn as a witness instead.

“[Enrile is] trying to make Gigi Reyes a standalone culprit for all the kickbacks that he received under the pork barrel schedules” Santiago earlier said.

“Apparently, the Enrile camp is engaged in a lurid scheme that is masterminded by a person I can only call a sexually dysfunctional old man, a pedophile, kasi ang hilig nya si Gigi Reyes is not his age e (because his preference, Gigi Reyes, is not his age),” she added, mentioning that Enrile allegedly had an affair with Reyes.

Santiago not only slammed Enrile’s underhanded tactics but also his illicit affair.

“To take the criminal blame not only for his plunder, but also for his moral turpitude in the sense of sexual addiction openly displayed as a public official,” she said.